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Ilessia
'''Bloodwolf Queen Ilessia de la Prance '''was the first Queen of Prance. Establishing the nation after overthrowing of the Transylmanean occupation of the region with the help of the Lords Terenis, Hexter Revenant, Sutcrow, Martin of Djericos, and Raziel Kain Biography Early Life Ilessia was born in the Tranyslmanean-occupied territory known as Ricca (modern day Ricce) to a family famous for the steel they produced for the Transylmanean Garrison, but which had fallen on hard times after her elder brother Lycos (eventually known as Lycos the Silvertongue) abandoned the family. Devastated by the loss, Ilessia's mother's health began to fail her, and she died giving birth to Ilessia. Illessia's father, Moros, was forced to cope with running a forge and caring for a newborn daughter alone. Moros' work suffered for this, and over time his business began to slow as he produced shoddier equipment. As a young girl, Ilessia became painfully aware of her father's dire straits, and her role in their cause. At an early age she started helping around the forge, but even the improvement of the materials produced struggled to stymie the bad press sinking her father's business. As the business continued to suffer, she knew that they could only survive a short while longer without some way of paying off their debts to the Imperial Garrison. The Trade Prince and the Sorcerer Ilessia and Moros found their solution in the form of Martin, the travelling son of a Djericosi Merchant Prince. Martin came upon their shop while travelling through Ricca on a tour of the northern empire, and he took an immediate liking to Ilessia. He knew of her shop, her pedigree, and her straits, and he did not mince words, asking for her hoof in marriage in exchange for the promise that he would save her business and make it bigger and greater than before. Desperate to help her father, Ilessia accepted the offer, and Martin left shortly after to return to Djericos to inform his father that he had found a bride. Ilessia traveled with him, but on the way to Djericos their carriage was attacked by the Dark Sorcerer Qa'xi. Martin's retinue was killed and he himself was taken by Qa'xi. Ilessia escaped with her life, but didn't know what to do. She couldn't go to Djericos without Martin, and her father depended on the success of this marriage. She returned home to discover that her father had fallen ill in her absence. Unable to pay for his care, Ilessia began preparing to go after Qa'xi and save Martin so that he can save Moros and the business. While preparing equipment and tending to her father until he reached a more stable state, Ilessia began her search for any information she could find about Qa'xi. She learned that a stallion in Blackmist Forest might have information on the sorcerer, but her search had caught the attention of an Earth Pony by the name of Terenis. Terenis and Ilessia Terenis was looking to go after Qa'xi as well after the sorcerer had slain his entire village over some perceived slight. He suggested that they work together, but Ilessia (like many Unicorn Ponies of the time) had an instilled prejudice against Earth Ponies. She believed he would prove more a hindrance than a help and refused him, saying she would set out on her own as soon as she finished forging a sword of fine enough quality to kill Qa'xi. Infuriated by her response, Terenis seized the blade as Ilessia was proudly inspecting her work. Tearing it from her grasp, Terenis brought he freshly-forged sword down with crushing force on a nearby anvil, shattering the blade. Ilessia was furious, but before she could speak Terenis rounded on her, telling her that his meager strength was nothing compared to that of Qa'xi. Any blade which could so easily shatter would be worse than useless against the sorcerer. Though still frustrated by seeing her hard work destroyed before her eyes, Ilessia could not deny the truth in Terenis' words. She allowed him to remain while she forged a new, better sword, insisting that Terenis work in the forge to repay her for the sword he destroyed. Though he knew nothing of smithing or metallurgy when he first came to her, Terenis proved an eager and capable student, and quickly began to win Ilessia's grudging respect, even despite the setbacks each time Terenis shattered a newly-finished blade. By the end of the summer of error Terenis had outstripped every student Ilessia had ever seen outside of her own family, and with his help she discovered a specialized alloy to create a pair of super-hardened blades; one small enough to be wielded in one hand, and one so large that Ilessia proved incapable of lifting it by main strength alone. Terenis lifted the larger blade comfortably and performed his usual test. This time, instead of the blade shattering, the anvil was cleaved neatly in two as the sword sliced down into the cobblestone floor of the forge beneath. At last they had crafted a sword worthy of slaying Qa'xi, but Ilessia could barely lift the thing, much less wield it in heated combat. To thank her for teaching him about smithing and in exchange for being permitted to join her in her quest, Terenis offered to carry the blade on her behalf and help her become strong enough to wield it herself. Ilessia acquiesced, but in truth there was little fight for the idea left in her. What had begun as a resentful mistrust and quickly developed into a grudging respect had, by the time of their departure, grown into a closer friendship than any either of them had ever known. The path from Ricca to Oatfield is a difficult and time-consuming journey even with the region's modern road networks developed by Maison Chevalier centuries later, and the occupying Transylmanean government was not in the habit of expanding provincial infrastructure without specific (read: military) reason. Terenis and Ilessia traveled for weeks, occasionally with the luxury of a dirt road or drafty inn, but most often making camp beside forest streams as they hacked their way through rough, untamed wilderness. A far cry from the paved, tame imperial land near the capital which Ilessia had known her whole life, and utterly incomprehensible to Terenis, whose people had spent generations carving their mountainous environment to better suit their needs. Over the course of weeks spent in close proximity, often with only one another to rely upon for security and companionship, their friendship developed into romance, and many a restless night was found in the young travelling companions' tent in the final weeks leading up to their discovery of the lumber roads of Blackmist Forest and following them in short order to the township of Oatfield. At the time of their Arrival in the Spring of error Oatfield was still on the start of its boom as a lumber town, but was still largely populated by the same four founding families who had settled on the lakeside in error. Ilessia began asking about after her lead on Qa'xi while Terenis used the opportunity to explore the town. The locals proved less-than-willing to speak of Qa'xi, but Ilessia was eventually able to discern the source of her lead to be the manor located deep in the forest near Oatfield. With this knowledge in tow, she began looking for Terenis. She found him in the early evening, and they agreed to find a local inn for the night.